1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,640 All right, good morning, church family once again, as you guys 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,280 find your seat, if you would open your Bibles or type in your 3 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:10,680 devices, the Book of Numbers, chapter 26. 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:15,720 And this morning we're going to be in the entire chapter, all 65 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,360 verses. And the reason for that is that 6 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,200 the sermon this morning, the text this morning is on a 7 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,440 census. And a lot of the text, we'll 8 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,480 just be counting numbers and so forth. 9 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,920 And so that we're going to be doing the entire chapter this 10 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,480 morning #26 the title of the sermon this morning is this. 11 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:41,120 Despite past sin, God provides a new dawn. 12 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,480 And so normally I read the text upfront, but given that the fact 13 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:46,720 that it's so long, I will not be reading it upfront. 14 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,720 I'll be reading it throughout the exposition application 15 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:52,480 portion. I won't be reading all of it 16 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,000 because again, a lot of it is just names and numbers, but I'll 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,880 be reading portions of it. So let me open this in a word of 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,800 prayer and then we'll jump into the text this morning. 19 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:09,720 Let's pray, Father, as we come to another census in the Book of 20 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:14,200 Numbers, as even as we looked at the first one in chapter 1 and 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:19,760 now a second one in numbers 26. Lord, we pray that you would 22 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:27,160 help us to draw application, help us to draw life meaning 23 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,720 from this text, a text at first glance that may seem like it 24 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,080 really has nothing to do with our life. 25 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,440 And what are we supposed to do with this entire chapter other 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,200 than just read it and move on? But God, we, we pray that you 27 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,480 would help us to, to not just move on this morning, but to 28 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:50,320 actually plant our feet here in your word in this chapter and to 29 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,400 ask ourselves, God, what do you want to teach us this morning? 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,800 What, what do you want me to see in this text? 31 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,600 What do you want me to feel? What do you want me to do? 32 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,880 What do you want me to know and remember? 33 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,280 And so, Lord, I pray that you would come and do this work this 34 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,520 morning by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the blood of Jesus 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,160 Christ and his name, I pray, Amen. 36 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:22,600 The nation of Israel in many ways is the prodigal son. 37 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,280 If you've ever read the story of the parable of the prodigal son, 38 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,560 the nation of Israel is in many ways the prodigal son. 39 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,280 They have a father who loves them, who cares for them, who 40 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,760 provides for them. And yet, like the prodigal son, 41 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,240 they want to do their own thing. They want to go their own way. 42 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,520 They don't want to be with their father. 43 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:52,840 They want to experience life. And I was thinking about this in 44 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,880 light of this chapter, of how easy it would have been for the 45 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,000 prodigal son when he was off and so-called Babylon. 46 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,800 How easy it would, and he lost everything. 47 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,440 How easy it would have been for him to stay in the pig pen. 48 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,480 If you remember the story that after he had spent all of his 49 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,600 father's money, he had to kind of sell himself out to a farm 50 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,400 and he is feeding the pigs and, and he longed to eat the food 51 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,800 that the pigs were eating. How easy it would have been for 52 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,320 him to just stay there, to assume this is my fate, this is 53 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,720 my lot. I've made my bed and now I need 54 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:35,640 to lie in it. But by God's grace, he comes 55 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,640 home. He comes home to his father, and 56 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:46,080 his Father teaches him, his Son, the same lesson that God teaches 57 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,120 Israel. And it is this. 58 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,320 Despite past sin, God provides a new dawn. 59 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:02,480 We are not doomed to continue walking in the darkness of night 60 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,840 because God's mercies are new. Every morning. 61 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:15,320 Despite past sin, God provides a new dawn. 62 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:17,920 That's what the sermon is about this morning. 63 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,200 As I mentioned earlier, I normally read the text up front, 64 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,360 but I won't be doing that. I'll be reading sections. 65 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,320 I'm going to be and and and often I sometimes will give 66 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,120 exposition and application at the end Tis when I'm going to be 67 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,320 weaving them together. Do the nature of the the text 68 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:36,440 this morning. So we're going to we're going to 69 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,480 start reading verses 1 to 4, but I won't be reading as I 70 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:44,680 mentioned every section, but I will give you the material as we 71 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:46,720 go through it. So let's start with our text 72 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,840 Numbers 26, beginning in verses 1 to 4. 73 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,960 After the plague, the Lord said to Moses and Eliezer the son of 74 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,040 Aaron the priest, take a census of all the congregation of the 75 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,880 people of Israel from 20 years old and upward by their father's 76 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,800 houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war. 77 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,880 And Moses and Eliezer the priest spoke with them in the plains of 78 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,200 Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, take a census of the 79 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:21,160 people from 20 years old and upward, as the Lord commanded 80 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,640 Moses, the people of Israel who came up out of the land of Egypt 81 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:28,640 were and stops right there. We'll stop right there. 82 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:35,520 So last week we saw that God had sent a plague upon his people 83 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:39,040 because of their immorality and their idolatry. 84 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,400 And as a result of this plague, 24,000 of the Israelites died. 85 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:49,640 After the plague ends, the very next thing that we're told that 86 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,840 they are to do, whether I mean, maybe some time had passed, but 87 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:55,160 I mean, there's a hard shift here. 88 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:01,120 A plague is sent, 24,000 die, and the Lord says the next thing 89 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,320 I want you to do, take a census. It's just kind of comes out of 90 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,680 left field here. Now, they had already taken a 91 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,040 census in chapter 1. But remember, chapter 1 is 40 92 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,520 years ago, where we're at right now. 93 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,920 Remember when Aaron dies, Aaron dies at like year 38. 94 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,640 Around that mark. Aaron has died not too long ago. 95 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,360 So it's almost all 40 years is up. 96 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,640 So they took a census 40 years ago and now 40 years later, God 97 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,040 wants them to take another census. 98 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,560 And God commands them to to count all of those who are 20 99 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:40,440 years and older. And, and, and, and. 100 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,360 There are two reasons for this. Number one, at the end of 101 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:49,760 chapter 25, if you remember last week, God told them to go to war 102 00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:52,200 with Midian. Remember the Midianites had 103 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,560 deceived them and had LED them into immorality and idolatry. 104 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,040 And so God said to harass them and literally go to war with 105 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,040 them. Well, when you're going to war, 106 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:02,720 you need to know what your numbers are. 107 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,720 And so God says, I want you to know how many men are able to go 108 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,480 to war. That's the first reason. 109 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,840 The second reason is that later in the chapter we're going to 110 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,080 see that about to enter the promised land, right? 111 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,200 40 years is up now the time is to enter the promised land. 112 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,560 But when they conquer the land, they need to know who's going to 113 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,000 get which parcel of land. And so in order to know who's 114 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,840 going to get what parcel of land, they got to know what the 115 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,640 numbers are. And so God wants them to count 116 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,520 all the tribes so they know what the size is because size is 117 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:38,440 going to determine who gets what portion of land. 118 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:41,280 So that's the reason for these, for this census. 119 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:46,240 And light of those two reasons, God says take this census. 120 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,680 It appears that God wants them to know where they stand. 121 00:07:52,680 --> 00:08:01,920 Where are we 40 years later? It is good from time to time to 122 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:07,880 take spiritual inventory. It's good from time to time to 123 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:13,520 take spiritual inventory. If you are running a business, 124 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,880 inventory failures can harm your business. 125 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,000 It can even kill your business. It's I, I, I watch the TV show 126 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:22,800 Shark Tank. Some of you may have seen that 127 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,520 show. One of the biggest mistakes that 128 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,000 these entrepreneurs make is over ordering their inventory. 129 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,800 The sharks will ask them how much inventory do you have? 130 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:36,440 Like $1,000,000 worth. They never get a deal, right? 131 00:08:36,799 --> 00:08:40,520 Inventory failures can harm your business or kill your business. 132 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:47,480 In 2001, Nike lost an estimated $100 million in sales. 133 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:50,640 Solid stock price dropped by 20%. 134 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,160 Do you know why? Inventory mismanagement. 135 00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:00,400 In 2022, Walmart's warehouses were overflowing with inventory. 136 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:04,200 Remember, everybody was under did not have enough inventory 137 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,040 during the pandemic. So what did Walmart do? 138 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,000 They're like, we don't want this to happen again. 139 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,160 So they ordered. They ordered too much. 140 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:12,520 They were overflowing with inventory. 141 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:15,440 So what did they have to do? They had to offer deep discounts 142 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,520 to all this inventory they had, hurting their profits. 143 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:25,240 Inventory mismanagement can harm or even kill a business, and 144 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:30,200 this can even be true for us on a spiritual level. 145 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:37,560 It is good to stop and consider from time to time. 146 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,680 How often did we have family worship this past week? 147 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:50,000 From last Sunday to today, how often did we have family 148 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,320 worship? How often did we have family 149 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,440 worship this past month? How often did we have it this 150 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:03,040 past year? How often did I go to church in 151 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:08,080 the past year? How much have I given in the 152 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:13,880 past year? How often did I read my Bible or 153 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:20,520 pray or share the gospel? Now I want to be very clear, we 154 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:25,320 never want numbers to be the deciding factor and how we are 155 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,280 doing spiritually. Hear me when I say that numbers 156 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,160 are never the deciding factor and how are you doing 157 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,160 spiritually? Numbers can be very deceiving, 158 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:40,320 but it is good from time to time to take spiritual inventory. 159 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:43,280 How else do we know how we're doing? 160 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,960 This census is a means for Israel to know how are we doing? 161 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:53,960 It's been 40 years, where are we? 162 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,840 How are we doing? From time to time we need to 163 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:07,440 take spiritual inventory. To know where do I stand, look 164 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,760 at verses 5 to 11. Reuben, the first born of 165 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,360 Israel, the sons of Reuben of Hanoch, the clan of the 166 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,920 Hanochites of Palu, the clan of the Apolloites of Hezron, the 167 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,800 clan of the Hezronites of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. 168 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,200 These are the clans of the Reubenites, and those listed 169 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:33,080 were 43,730 the sons of Apollo, Iliab, the sons of Iliab, 170 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:38,680 Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These are the Dathan and Abiram 171 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,400 chosen from the congregation who contended against Moses and 172 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,040 Aaron and the company of Kora when they contended against the 173 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,720 Lord. And the earth opened its mouth 174 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:52,800 and swallowed them up together with Kora when that company 175 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:58,920 died, when the fire devoured 250 men and they became a warning. 176 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,280 But the sons of Cora did not die. 177 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,440 So the census starts with Reuben. 178 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:07,600 Why Reuben? Reuben is the first born of 179 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:09,680 Jacob. So it starts with with Reuben. 180 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:14,760 The numbers of Reuben are 43,730. 181 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:17,720 Now, if you have a bulletin, I put an image on the front of 182 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,680 your bulletin so you can look along with me. 183 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:28,840 If you like 43,730, that is a 6% decrease from chapter 1. 184 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,960 It's a 6% decrease in chapter 1. Now, what's interesting is that 185 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:40,920 the narrator takes the time to highlight Dathan and a Byram 186 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:43,120 right in the middle of the census. 187 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:46,000 Out of everything he could list, he'd see he wants to highlight 188 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,280 date them in a Byram. And if you remember the story, 189 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,480 we went to this not too long ago, and #16 Korra had LED a 190 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,640 rebellion against Moses. Dathan and a Byram joined in 191 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,680 this rebellion. So did 250 men join his 192 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,200 rebellion. They came to Moses, and they 193 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,200 said to Moses, you have gone too far, Moses. 194 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,080 Everyone in the congregation is holy to the Lord. 195 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,120 Why do you exalt yourself above the assembly of the Lord? 196 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,960 And Moses says, very well, I propose a challenge to you. 197 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:22,840 Tomorrow morning you offer your incense, I will offer my 198 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:27,880 incense, and we shall see who is holy to the Lord. 199 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,560 So the next day, they take their sensors, they put fire in them, 200 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,120 they lay incense on them. And what happens? 201 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:42,800 The ground opens its mouth and swallows these men and all the 202 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,240 men around them. And then fire from the Lord 203 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,680 comes out and consumes the 250 men who are part of the 204 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:52,160 rebellion. And here's what I want you to 205 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,400 notice. If it did not say this in #16 206 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,400 But the narrator gives us an additional piece of information. 207 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:02,640 Look at verse 10. When the Earth's opened its 208 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,600 mouth and swallowed them, when the fire came out, what 209 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,640 happened? They became a warning. 210 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:17,600 A warning. Their death was a warning to all 211 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:23,440 of Israel, a warning church family. 212 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:30,800 Every trial, every tragedy, every tribulation is a warning 213 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:36,040 from God. Every trial, every tragedy, 214 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,400 every tribulation is a warning from God. 215 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:44,720 What I find interesting about this census in the whole chapter 216 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,240 is that for the most part, the only stories that are 217 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:51,520 interspersed in this census, I mean, it's not just, it's not 218 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,560 just a census. There are stories interspersed 219 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,480 in the chapter, and all the stories that are interspersed in 220 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,560 the chapter are all stories of tragedy. 221 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,960 Nadab and Abihu ER and Onan kora Dathem and Abiram, the 222 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:09,440 Israelites as a whole. It's as if God wants them to 223 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,800 remember. I gave you warnings. 224 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,120 I wonder how many lost people on the day of judgment? 225 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,200 When we die and all of us stand before the day of judgment, I 226 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,120 wonder how many lost people will say to the Lord on the day of 227 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,560 judgment? Why didn't you warn me? 228 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,480 If heaven is real and hell is real and I'm going to hell, why 229 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:41,160 didn't you warn me? And I think God will say to 230 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:53,970 them, I did, I did. The narrator is telling us that 231 00:15:53,970 --> 00:15:59,360 the earth opening its mouth and swallowing these men, fire 232 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:04,920 coming out and consuming these men was a warning. 233 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:13,560 God is always warning us. Every tornado, hurricane, 234 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:20,280 earthquake, tsunami, volcano, wildfire, flood, drought, 235 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:25,080 landslide, every heart disease, every cancer, stroke, 236 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:32,880 Alzheimer's, diabetes, all of it is a warning from God. 237 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:41,960 All of it. The question is, do we heed His 238 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:49,920 warning? The narrator tells us in verse 239 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:54,320 11 that the sons of Kora did not die. 240 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,400 That's interesting that he takes the time to tell us that because 241 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,480 Kora died and all the men around him died. 242 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,200 But the narrator tells us that the sons of Kora did not die. 243 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,359 Why is it interesting? Because we actually have some of 244 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:11,040 the most impactful and some of the most beautiful psalms from 245 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:16,520 the sons of Kora. Psalms 42 to 49, Psalms 84 to 246 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:22,520 85, Psalms 87 to 88 are all written by the sons or 247 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:28,400 descendants of Kora. In just a minute, I'm going to 248 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:32,840 mention that our sin may affect generations to come. 249 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:40,320 But here is the good news before I say that our parents sin, our 250 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:47,280 grandparents sin need not be a self fulfilling prophecy for us. 251 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,120 We all are aware of our parents sin, our grandparents sin. 252 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:58,080 It need not be a self fulfilling prophecy for us. 253 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,200 Because Core LED a rebellion. The earth swallowed him and the 254 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,160 men that were with him. But here's what happened. 255 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:10,160 His lineage continued and it continued in glory. 12 of the 256 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,800 150 Psalms that are recorded in Scripture were written by his 257 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:20,600 descendants. With each new generation, God 258 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:27,840 offers a new dawn. Think about King Ahaz, who was 259 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:34,840 wicked, engaged in idolatry, but his son Hezekiah did what was 260 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:39,480 right in the eyes of the Lord. Think about King Amon, who is a 261 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:44,360 wicked king also engaged in idolatry, but his son Josiah did 262 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,320 not walk in his father's footsteps. 263 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,720 Or what about King Saul who repeatedly disobeyed the Lord, 264 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,200 but his son Jonathan? That was not his story. 265 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,640 There is some validity. You might even argue a lot, but 266 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:06,760 I'll just say a some There is some validity to the idea that 267 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:11,520 proclivities to sin may be passed down from generation to 268 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,720 generation. Now, whether that is nature, 269 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:18,400 whether that is nurture I that you you can debate that all day. 270 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:24,680 But there is some validity that proclivities to sin may be 271 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,680 passed down from generation to generation. 272 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,480 But hear me when I say this That doesn't have to be our story. 273 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:40,720 Whatever proclivities you inherited from your family does 274 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:47,560 not have to be prophecy. Proclivities are not prophecy. 275 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:56,920 Look at verse 12 to 14, The sons of Simeon. 276 00:19:56,920 --> 00:20:00,320 According to the clans of Nemuel the Well, we have to reach 1214. 277 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,040 The next tribe is the Simeonites. 278 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:06,880 Here's what I'll mention about the Simeon Heights. 279 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,880 Their number is 20. Here's what I want to point out. 280 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:14,360 Their number is 22,200. Now, why is that significant? 281 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,840 If you look, that is a 63% decrease from chapter one. 282 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:24,600 That's a lot. 63% decrease. Simeon went from being the third 283 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,440 largest tribe to the smallest tribe. 284 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:33,160 Third largest to the smallest. What happened to the Simeon 285 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:36,760 Heights? I don't know, but some scholars 286 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,920 speculate this Zimri. Remember Zimri? 287 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,960 He was our man last week. He is the man who brought a 288 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,640 Midianite woman to his tent, to his family. 289 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,480 You remember what tribe Zimri was from? 290 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:56,200 He was a Simeonite. Some scholars speculate that it 291 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,600 may be that a large majority of those who died by the plague, 292 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:04,240 the 24,000 or more, were Simeonites. 293 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,200 That this accounts for why there's such a huge decrease in 294 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,480 population of the Senate. That is speculation, but it is a 295 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:16,200 plausible theory. Now if that is true, which 296 00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:18,760 again, hear me want to say this, that's speculation. 297 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,920 Hear me want to say this. If it's true though, it teaches 298 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:28,120 us this. Our sin may affect generations 299 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:31,720 to come. Simeon is going to get the 300 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,000 smallest allotment of land. They were going to get the third 301 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,160 largest. Now they get the smallest 302 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:43,680 portion of land. The choices we make today may or 303 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,080 probably will affect generations to come. 304 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:48,920 I don't mean that even just simply individually, I mean that 305 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:53,640 even corporately. I was thinking about the 306 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:55,920 difficulty of raising children this generation. 307 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:03,240 It's difficult, right? We, we face, it's always been 308 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:04,240 difficult. I want to be clear. 309 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,240 I mean, it's not like raising kids was never easy. 310 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,000 It was never easy. It's always been difficult. 311 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,320 But there are different challenges and, and, and maybe 312 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,200 even more difficult challenges, perhaps, I don't know, it's 313 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,520 debatable. But things like how are we going 314 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:24,400 to navigate AI? I mean, I know you guys love AI, 315 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:29,000 you know, but listen, AI is going to present unbelievable 316 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:33,880 challenges and problems. It it's it's it, it already has 317 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,800 and it's only the tip of the iceberg of the problems that are 318 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,400 going to exist with AI. Anybody who is spiritually 319 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:49,520 discerned knows this addiction to smartphones just go out in 320 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:50,880 public. Are we not addicted to our 321 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,440 smartphones? If that's true of, I mean I see 322 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,160 like 50 year old grown man addicted to their smartphones. 323 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,520 If that's true of a 50 year old, how much more is it true of a 15 324 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:07,120 year old or a 7 year old? Addiction to social media, 325 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:13,800 addiction to entertainment? Did anybody here not watch 326 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,400 anything at all last night on your phone? 327 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:23,440 Anybody under the age of 40 not watch a single thing last night? 328 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,960 I read an article the other day about a man in his 40s. 329 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:34,960 You may have seen the article. There's a man in his 40s whose 330 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,560 wife said that he was addicted to ChatGPT. 331 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,600 He said it was a spiritual awakening. 332 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:46,600 His wife said it's ruining their marriage. 333 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:55,160 He's in his 40s. It made me discouraged for the 334 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,400 temptations that our next generation will face. 335 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,040 I mean, it really did. I have four sons. 336 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,280 It made me discourage about the temptations. 337 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,000 How are we going to navigate this? 338 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,120 So, and it's, this is not just true for parents. 339 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:10,960 You're like, well, I'm not a parent or I don't plan to get 340 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,040 married or like it's true for all of us. 341 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:20,160 We're we're, we're one family. The decisions we make today may 342 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:27,560 affect generations tomorrow. Our actions matter. 343 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,280 They are not ultimate. Let me be clear about that. 344 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:37,200 Our actions are not ultimate. God is ultimate, but our actions 345 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:43,840 do matter. Verses 15 to 18, the next tribe 346 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:48,560 is a tribe of Gad. Their number is 40,500 that 347 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:53,480 that's an 11% decrease. Verses 9 look at look at verses 348 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,560 19 to 22. I'll read that the sons of Judah 349 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,800 were UR and Onan, and UR and Onan died in the land of Canaan. 350 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:05,120 And the sons of Judah, according to their clans, were of Sheila, 351 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:10,160 the clans of the Sheilanites of Perez, the clan of the Parasites 352 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,440 of Zerah, the clan of the Zerites. 353 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,800 The sons of Perez were Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites of 354 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,680 Hamu, the clan of the Homulites. These are the clans of Judah as 355 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:26,440 they were listed 76,500. So the next tribe is the tribe 356 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,160 of Judah. This is the tribe that Jesus 357 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,280 comes from. Their number 76,500. 358 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,400 They are the largest tribe and they are the first tribe listed 359 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:38,800 that have an increase. So far the tribes have been 360 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,000 decreasing. You kind of, it's kind of yeah. 361 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000 Why are they decreasing? This is the first tribe that has 362 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,400 an They have a 3% increase. The narrator takes the time to 363 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,960 highlight two people, ER and Onan. 364 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,760 You're like, who is, uh, and Onan, he mentions they died in 365 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,000 the land of Canaan, doesn't say why you have to go back to 366 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,680 Genesis, Genesis 38, seven to 10. 367 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,040 Let me read that for us as so that you know what happened 368 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,560 there. Uh, Judah's first born was 369 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,200 wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death. 370 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,560 Then Judah said to Onan, his second born, Go into your 371 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,120 brother's wife and perform the duty of her brother-in-law to 372 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:24,960 her, and raise up offspring for your brother. 373 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,200 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. 374 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,480 So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste 375 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,560 the semen on the ground so as to not give offspring to his 376 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:40,120 brother. And what he did was wicked in 377 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:43,240 the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. 378 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,800 Now I can preach the whole sermon on that. 379 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,600 I was going to explain really fast what that what's going on 380 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,640 there and Leverett marriage. The way it worked back then is 381 00:26:54,840 --> 00:27:04,480 if if you, your brother died and his wife did not have any kids, 382 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:10,400 you would marry her, your brother's wife, and you would do 383 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:12,440 this to give your brother lineage. 384 00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:15,120 It's called Leverett marriage. It was actually a law. 385 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,760 It was required by God. God puts her to death because 386 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,960 he's wicked. Onan is supposed to fulfill his 387 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,360 his his obligation to give his brother children. 388 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,080 But he doesn't want to do this. Why? 389 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,560 Because he doesn't want to split up his inheritance. 390 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:42,080 He doesn't want to affect his own inheritance, so he doesn't 391 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,280 give her children. And this was wicked in the sight 392 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,400 of the Lord. That's the Lord put him to death 393 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,200 as well. Uh, is actually the first 394 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,400 individual in Scripture that the Lord puts to death. 395 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,200 I mean, he put like, you know, at the flood and Sodom and 396 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,640 Gomorrah, but individuals, uh, is the first individual in 397 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,800 Scripture that the Lord just directly put to death. 398 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:09,080 Onan is the second. Now why does he mention this? 399 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:16,480 Err and Onan are reminders that the wages of sin is death. 400 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:21,520 Paul says that the wages of sin is death. 401 00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,440 Err and Onan are reminders of this. 402 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:25,080 Now here's why this is important. 403 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,640 Because it doesn't seem that bad, does it? 404 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,200 I mean, maybe err was really wicked, but what Onan did didn't 405 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,920 seem that bad that it really warned being put to death. 406 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,040 Well, think about this was what Nabal did was that Did it seem 407 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,240 that bad got put in the ball to death? 408 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,360 All the ball did was not be hospitable. 409 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:46,920 Imagine being put to death for not being hospitable. 410 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,640 What about Ananias the fire? Ananias the fire. 411 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:58,080 Total lie. What about Lot's wife? 412 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,120 I'm going to show you what Lot's wife did to be put to death. 413 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,680 That's it. What about Aza? 414 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,640 I'm going to show you what Aza did to be put to death. 415 00:29:20,610 --> 00:29:26,450 Doesn't seem that bad, does it? None of these seem that bad. 416 00:29:26,730 --> 00:29:33,050 And yet all of these examples are a reminder that the wages of 417 00:29:33,050 --> 00:29:44,000 sin is death. We should be put to death by the 418 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,960 Lord. The question is not why were 419 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,440 these people put to death? The question is, why have we not 420 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:58,480 been put to death? We should be put to death by the 421 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:04,200 Lord. But the free gift of God is 422 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,960 eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 423 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:13,280 Every day we wake up, it is grace upon grace because every 424 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:19,160 night we go to bed as sinners and every morning Jesus Christ 425 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:27,640 keeps us from being uh and onan. Look at verse 23 to 25. 426 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:34,920 It's a car is next. Their number is 64,300. 427 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,920 That's an 18% increase. That is our largest increase so 428 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,840 far. Verses 26 to 27. 429 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:47,760 The next tribe is Zebulon. Their their clan is 60,500. 430 00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:51,680 That's a 5% increase. And then look at verses 28 to 431 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:56,040 34, the sons of Joseph according to their clans, Manasseh and 432 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,120 Ephraim, the sons of Manasseh of Mahir, the clans of Mahirites. 433 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,160 And Mahir was the father of Gilead of Gilead, the clan of 434 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,840 the Gileadites. These are the sons of Gilead, of 435 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:10,200 of Eazer the clan of the Yezerites, of Helik the clan of 436 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:14,400 the Helikites and of Asriel the clan of the Asrielites, and of 437 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:19,040 Shechem the clan of the Shechemites, and of Shemida the 438 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,440 clan of the Shemidites, and of Heffer the clan of the 439 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,280 Hefferites. Now Zelafahad the son of Heffer 440 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:31,920 had no sons but daughters, and the names of the daughters of 441 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:39,160 the Zelafahad were Mahla, Noah, Hagla, Milka and Tizra. 442 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:47,240 These are the clans of Manasseh and those listed were 52,700. 443 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:53,240 Now if you remember, Joseph was a son of Jacob, but there is no 444 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,640 tribe of Joseph. And the reason for this is that 445 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,520 his two sons are the tribes. He has two sons, Manasseh and 446 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:06,200 Ephraim, and they become tribes. The first planning list is 447 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,680 Manasseh. Manasseh is 52,700. 448 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:16,800 That is a 64% increase. I have no idea why they increase 449 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,360 so much. They some fertile women in those 450 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,760 that tribe. I, I, I don't know why they 451 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,600 increase so much. Look at what the narrator 452 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:31,160 highlights though in verse 33. In verse 33, now Zela Fahad, the 453 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,600 son of Heifer, had no sons but daughters, and then he lists the 454 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:41,280 names of the daughters. Why does he mention this about 455 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:43,760 Zela Fahad having no sons but daughters? 456 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:46,640 Dennis Cole writes this a commentator. 457 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:50,920 The mere mention of women is remarkable in a text designed to 458 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,640 calculate potential numbers of men for war. 459 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,960 The purpose of the census is to determine how many men are ready 460 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:58,760 to go to war. So the fact that he would even 461 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,600 mention this is is pretty remarkable. 462 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,720 So why does the narrator draw attention to these five 463 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,880 daughters? Because this story is going to 464 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,280 come into play next week in chapter 27, which we'll get to 465 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,440 next week. And then we get to the last five 466 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:18,280 tribes. There are no narrator comments 467 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,280 on these last tribes, so I'm just going to give the names and 468 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,640 the numbers and the percentage increase or decrease versus 35 469 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:30,000 to 37. The next clan is Ephraim 32,500. 470 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,480 That is a 20% decrease. That's the second largest 471 00:33:33,480 --> 00:33:37,160 decrease behind the Semionites versus 38 to 41. 472 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,640 The next clan is Benjamin 45,600. 473 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,840 That's a 29% increase. It's tied for the second largest 474 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:52,640 increase versus 42 to 43. The next tribe is Dan 64,400, 475 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:58,160 just a 3% increase, but it is the second largest tribe versus 476 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:04,320 44 to 47. The next tribe is Asher 53,400, 477 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,159 that's a 29% increase, again tied for the second largest. 478 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,600 And then versus 48 to 50, the last tribe that has counted is 479 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:19,080 Naftali 45,400. That's a 15% decrease, and 480 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:23,719 that's our 11 tribes. There's one more which we'll get 481 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,960 to in just a second. Look at verse 51. 482 00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:40,000 This was the list of the people of Israel. 601,730 I want you to 483 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,080 pause. Just think about that. 601,730 484 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,880 You guys remember what the number was in chapter 140 years 485 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:59,720 earlier? 603,550 just a .3% difference, 486 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:06,680 almost the same. Now why is that significant? 487 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,840 Later the narrator is going to mention he's going to make it 488 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:15,840 clear that this 601,000 are completely different people than 489 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:20,040 the previous 603,000 completely different people. 490 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,520 Here's why this matters. We often don't give a whole lot 491 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,080 of thought to genealogies or censuses, right? 492 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,960 I mean, I highly doubt anybody in this room, your go to passage 493 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,880 is a census. If I ask you like, you know, 494 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,160 when you're feeling really like this is a small good question 495 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:47,160 when you're feeling really discouraged, like what is your 496 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,040 go to passage that you read in the word? 497 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:58,160 Do any of you say censuses or genealogies? 498 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,800 I I highly doubt that any church has ever had a retreat theme 499 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:10,320 called census. And I'm quite sure there are no 500 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,040 religious best sellers out there about censuses. 501 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:23,720 But here's one thing that Numbers 26 teaches us, and it is 502 00:36:23,720 --> 00:36:31,520 this God was faithful to preserve his people for 40 503 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:36,360 years. He was faithful not only 40 504 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:41,040 years, but 40 years of grumbling and disobedience. 505 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:47,480 For 40 years his people grumbled and complained and disobeyed 506 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:52,320 God. And yet 40 years later it's only 507 00:36:52,360 --> 00:37:00,000 a .3% difference. God was faithful to preserve 508 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,960 them. I've said this before, but to 509 00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:08,440 me, the greatest miracle in the book of Numbers, maybe even the 510 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,440 entire Old Testament, is this, that Joshua 1 exists. 511 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,960 Because if you read this book, I mean, we've been going through 512 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,120 this for months now, right? If you read this book, it's just 513 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,040 filled with sin after sin after sin. 514 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:29,080 The people are grumbling and complaining over and over again. 515 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:31,040 It's like a broken record, right? 516 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,280 We're tired of this. We hate this. 517 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,480 We don't like this. They're just complaining over 518 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,640 and over and over again. The people accused God and Moses 519 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,640 of trying to kill them. How many times are they accused? 520 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,840 You brought us here to kill us, God. 521 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,560 You want to kill us, Moses? You want to kill us? 522 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,280 They're trying to go back to Egypt. 523 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,120 Let's appoint a new leader. Let's go back to Egypt. 524 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,200 We remember the fish and the cucumbers and the melons and the 525 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,840 leeks. Let's go back to slavery. 526 00:37:58,440 --> 00:37:59,840 They're complaining about their food. 527 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:03,760 We're tired of this manna. They're opposing their leaders. 528 00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,880 They're doubting the Lord. They're disciplining the Lord. 529 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,920 They're breaking the Sabbath. They're leading rebellions. 530 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,680 They're committing idolatry and immorality. 531 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:20,400 And yet, despite all of this incessant sin, not only do God's 532 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:26,680 people still exist, they are almost identical in number. 533 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:38,280 At the end of the 40 years, as at the beginning, God is 534 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:50,960 faithful to preserve his people. Do you know why I'm so confident 535 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,560 that we will persevere to the end? 536 00:38:54,560 --> 00:39:00,320 I am unbelievably confident that you and I who are in Christ will 537 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,840 make it to the end. Do you know why I'm so confident 538 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,760 of that? Because Israel still exists. 539 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:18,920 They're still here. God is faithful to persevere His 540 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:24,040 people. Look at verse 52 to 54. 541 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,400 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, among these the land shall be 542 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,440 divided for inheritance according to the number of 543 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,280 names. To a large tribe you shall give 544 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,320 a large inheritance. Into a small tribe you shall 545 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,400 give a small inheritance. Every tribe shall be given its 546 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:39,480 inheritance and proportion to its list. 547 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,240 We'll stop there. Now, part of the purpose of the 548 00:39:43,240 --> 00:39:45,080 sentence, as I mentioned earlier, was to know how to 549 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,680 divide up the land right when they go in to conquer the land. 550 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:52,200 It's not like, you know, it's like, what is it? 551 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,600 What do they call it when you get front seat like shotgun? 552 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,680 Whoever called shotgun is that, is that even a thing here? 553 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,200 Is that just a S thing? I don't know. 554 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:00,560 That was one thing when I was a killer. 555 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:03,360 I call shotgun. It's like whoever gets it wasn't 556 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:05,520 like whoever just called like claimed this part of the land. 557 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,120 I got it first. That wasn't how it worked. 558 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,360 Large tribes would get a large inheritance. 559 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:12,720 Small tribes would get a small inheritance. 560 00:40:12,720 --> 00:40:16,200 It was based on their size. But here's the thing, whether 561 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,720 you got a large inheritance or whether you got a small 562 00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:21,640 inheritance, everybody got an inheritance. 563 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:27,720 Everybody what qualified them to receive an inheritance was 564 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:35,120 simply being a son of Abraham. Brothers and sisters, one day we 565 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:42,800 will all inherit the eternal promised land and everybody who 566 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:46,280 is the Son of God gets this inheritance. 567 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:52,040 There are not levels to heaven. There are not social classes. 568 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:55,360 There is no Beverly Hills of Heaven. 569 00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:00,080 Yes, there will be different rewards. 570 00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,440 Let's be clear on that. There will be different rewards 571 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,520 in heaven, but just that the tribes received different 572 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,520 inheritances. There will be different rewards 573 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,520 in heaven. But just as everybody gets the 574 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:16,720 promised land, so does every follower of Jesus Christ receive 575 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,960 the eternal promised land. We all get it. 576 00:41:23,240 --> 00:41:27,800 Look at verse 55 to 56. But the land shall be divided by 577 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,840 lot according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. 578 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,240 They shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be 579 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:37,400 divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller. 580 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:42,720 So the land size is determined by the tribe size, right? 581 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:44,680 Big tribes got a big inheritance, small tribes got 582 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:46,120 small. But then the turn, then the 583 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:49,160 question is, how do you know which parcel of land goes where, 584 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,000 right? Like who gets to be next to the 585 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,920 Mediterranean Sea? Who gets to be next to the 586 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:58,040 Jericho River? Who gets to be up north in the 587 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,280 cooler region? Who gets to have the southern 588 00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,440 region where it's very hot and arid, right? 589 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:07,280 How do we determine who gets what portion of land? 590 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,920 God says the land will be divided by lot. 591 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:15,520 What does that mean? Well, they would cast lots, 592 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,360 probably the Urim and, and, and Thumman, right? 593 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:22,520 There's like stones to determine who, who got what land. 594 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:24,440 We don't have time to go into all the details of that, but 595 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,320 it's kind of like rolling dice, right? 596 00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:28,040 It's something similar like rolling dice. 597 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:31,080 And it's like, you know, if, if, if it's a six, you get this. 598 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,720 If it's a four, you get this. Now why would God do it this way 599 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,440 right? Well this was not an uncommon 600 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:41,840 way in the Old Testament to determine the will of the Lord. 601 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,320 Why? Prob because Proverbs 1633 602 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,360 teaches us the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision 603 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:56,960 is from the Lord. Meaning, if I roll dice, God 604 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,080 determines whether that die lands on A6 or A2. 605 00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:09,560 Every time God determines it. And here's why this matters. 606 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:17,480 Bear with me for just a minute. In college basketball, there is 607 00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:22,000 a potentially generational talent that is entering the NBA 608 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:24,960 this year. A young man by the name of 609 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:28,840 Cooper Flagg. Everybody knew that he would be 610 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:31,360 the number one pick. Everybody. 611 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:37,200 The question was because it's a lottery system. 612 00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:40,000 The way it works is a lottery. The other places, it's like the 613 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,800 worst record, but it's that's not the case in the NBA. 614 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,720 It's a lottery system. The Dallas Mavericks, who were 615 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:48,920 by no means the worst team, ended up getting him. 616 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:55,760 Do you know what their odds were of getting him 1.8%? 617 00:43:57,720 --> 00:44:02,200 They had a 1.8% chance of getting him and they got him. 618 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,960 Now this of course led to many people calling the system 619 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:11,240 rigged. The, the, the, I mean, theories 620 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:13,360 are about it. People have even asked like the 621 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:20,480 commissioner, is it rigged? I think sometimes we can 622 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:30,000 subconsciously think this way with God, God, it's rigged. 623 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:39,800 It's not fair the fact that I am not as intelligent as this 624 00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:45,160 person, or as good looking as this person, or as rich as this 625 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:50,680 person, or as successful as this person, or as talented as this 626 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:55,080 person. It just feels rigged. 627 00:44:55,280 --> 00:45:03,720 God, it doesn't feel fair. Ever felt that way? 628 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,240 Like a God had just given you more intelligence, got to give 629 00:45:08,240 --> 00:45:10,840 you better looks, got to make you taller, got to make you more 630 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:13,400 talented, got to giving you this and giving you that, giving you 631 00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:15,720 that. Like it would be different, but 632 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:17,960 God, it's not fair. You rigged it. 633 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:22,760 Sometimes people will give a cliche answer to this and 634 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,160 they'll say, well, hey, you just have to accept how these are. 635 00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:30,560 You just have to accept it. Brother, sister, the goal in 636 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:37,920 life is not to accept God's lot. The goal is to delight in it. 637 00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:43,360 The goal is Psalm 16, five to six. 638 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:46,280 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. 639 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:53,720 You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in 640 00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:59,800 pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful 641 00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:06,600 inheritance. That is the goal. 642 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:13,720 I used to wrestle. I know this about you because I 643 00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:16,680 wrestled for years. I still do to some degree. 644 00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:22,520 I used to wrestle for years with this thought, Why wasn't I fill 645 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:29,640 in the blank? Just fill in the blank. 646 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:31,480 Why wasn't I? I used to like. 647 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:35,640 Why was I better looking? God? 648 00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:37,480 My life would be so much easier if you just made me better 649 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:45,190 looking. What? 650 00:46:45,230 --> 00:46:47,110 What fill in you fill in the blank. 651 00:46:47,270 --> 00:46:48,750 Why wasn't I? I. 652 00:46:48,950 --> 00:46:51,590 I used to wrestle without you until I realized. 653 00:46:51,710 --> 00:46:54,950 Until it finally clicked in my soul. 654 00:46:57,310 --> 00:47:01,590 I inherit God. I can't. 655 00:47:01,590 --> 00:47:08,640 Jesus, I don't have to wish for fill in the blank. 656 00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:16,880 I get God. I have a beautiful inheritance. 657 00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:21,720 That's the goal, brother and sister. 658 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:32,600 Look at verse 57 to 59 and 62 This was the list of the Levites 659 00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,160 according to their clans of Gershon, the clan of the 660 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:39,720 Gershonites of Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites of Moriari, 661 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:43,520 the clan of the Mariites the These are the clans of Levi, the 662 00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:46,320 clans of the Lib Knights, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan 663 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:48,000 of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the 664 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:51,840 Mushites, the clan of the Korahites and Kohath was the 665 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:55,920 father of Amran. The name of Amran's wife was 666 00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,840 Tokoebe, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt, 667 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:04,080 and she was born to Imran, Aaron and Moses and Miriam, their 668 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,520 sister. And then down in verse 62. 669 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:11,000 And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and 670 00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:12,320 upward. For they were not listed among 671 00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,760 the people of Israel because there was no inheritance given 672 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:16,240 to them among the people of Israel. 673 00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:20,200 Now, just as a reminder, the Levites were not counted in the 674 00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:23,080 census for two reasons. Number one, they didn't go to 675 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,720 war and #2 they don't get a land inheritance. 676 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,480 When they divide up the land, they get no land. 677 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,040 Their inheritance was the Lord God said in Numbers 1820. 678 00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:37,240 You shall have no inheritance in the land, neither shall you have 679 00:48:37,240 --> 00:48:41,680 any portion among them. I am your portion and your 680 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:43,280 inheritance among the people of Israel. 681 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,880 The narrator highlights to us that Jacola, Beb and Imran had 682 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:50,960 three children, Aaron, Moses and Miriam, I think testifying that 683 00:48:50,960 --> 00:48:54,440 they are Levites. The total number of Levites from 684 00:48:54,440 --> 00:49:00,400 a month old and older was 23,000 and but earlier 22. 685 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,320 That's a 5% increase in chapter 1. 686 00:49:02,320 --> 00:49:06,920 So the Levites have increased. And look at verses 60 to 61. 687 00:49:08,720 --> 00:49:13,600 To Aaron were born Nab Abihu, Eliezer and Ithmar, but Nadab 688 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:18,320 and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the 689 00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:22,000 Lord. So all the Levites will descend 690 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:26,160 from Levi, but the priest will descend from Aaron, who is also 691 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,800 a Levite. Aaron, if you remember, had four 692 00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:34,640 sons, not 24, but only two are currently living, Eliezer and 693 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:37,120 Ithmar. What happened to the other two? 694 00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:41,400 God put them to death. If you remember the story in 695 00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:47,120 Leviticus 10, Nedab and Abiahu offered unauthorized fire, and 696 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:52,440 fire came out and consumed them. God reminds them that even being 697 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:56,720 a priest and a Levite was no immunity from the judgement of 698 00:49:56,720 --> 00:50:01,000 God. And then look at verse. 699 00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:06,560 These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest who 700 00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:08,720 listed the people of Israel on the plains of Moab, by the 701 00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:11,640 Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not 702 00:50:11,720 --> 00:50:15,480 one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest who had listed 703 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,040 the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, for the 704 00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:21,440 Lord had said of them, they shall die in the wilderness. 705 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:27,600 Not one of them was left except Caleb the son of Gefuna and 706 00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:30,960 Joshua the son of noon. The narrator says that the total 707 00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:35,200 number of visualize with 20 years and older, but look what 708 00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:39,760 he says in verse 64. Not one of them was those who 709 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,080 were listed in the first. So again, that's what I 710 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:46,960 mentioned earlier, all 601,000 of these men over days of 20, 711 00:50:46,960 --> 00:50:50,280 they're all different men. None of them are the same as 712 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:53,200 chapter 1 except for two, and I guess three if you count Moses. 713 00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:54,800 But Moses is not going to the promised land. 714 00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:59,360 Caleb and Joshua. Here's why that matters. 715 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:04,200 God's promises are a double edged sword, are they not? 716 00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:08,680 You see, God promised Abram that they would be a mighty nation. 717 00:51:09,240 --> 00:51:12,640 Their descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky 718 00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:16,160 and the sand on the seashore. And God kept that promise. 719 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,080 And the reason we know He kept it is because despite 40 years 720 00:51:22,080 --> 00:51:25,960 of rebellion, they still have 600,000 men over the age of 20. 721 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:29,120 But those 600,000 are all different. 722 00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:32,680 Say to why? Why are they all different? 723 00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:37,160 Because God also made a promise back in Numbers 14 where he said 724 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:41,880 none of you, none of you except 2 over the age of 20 are going 725 00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:45,880 to go into the promised land. You see, God's promises are 726 00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:49,440 double edged sword. He keeps his promises a 727 00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:53,240 blessing. He also keeps his promises of 728 00:51:53,240 --> 00:51:58,720 judgment. How do we know that God won't 729 00:51:58,720 --> 00:52:00,320 change his mind? You ever wonder this? 730 00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:06,000 Like what if God just kind of says, you know what, come on in 731 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:10,440 all of you. How do we know that God will not 732 00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:13,720 change his mind at the final judgement and just let everybody 733 00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:17,840 in? Because he didn't let any of 734 00:52:17,840 --> 00:52:23,640 these people in. None of them except 2. 735 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:32,320 God keeps his promises. I want to close with this idea. 736 00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:39,640 Despite Israel's past, God provided them with a new dawn. 737 00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:45,600 There is a whole new generation, these 600,000 men. 738 00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,800 There's a whole new generation that God has raised up and 739 00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:54,120 faithful, faithfully persevered. It is the opportunity for a 740 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:59,120 brand new beginning. The past 40 years of grumbling 741 00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:02,680 and complaining and idolatry and immorality and disobedience does 742 00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:06,760 not need to be the story of the next 40 years. 743 00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:10,920 It doesn't have to be. And brothers and sisters, the 744 00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:17,560 same is true for you and me. Despite our past sin, God 745 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:24,680 provides us a new dawn. If you fall into a season where 746 00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:29,000 you become distant from God, and all of us do, nobody goes 747 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,080 through their life without being distant from God. 748 00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:33,320 And if you're like, if you think, I don't think I've ever 749 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:38,240 had a season, maybe your whole life has been distant from God. 750 00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:46,520 Everybody goes through a season where they're distant from God. 751 00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:53,160 If you fall into a season where you become distant from God, or 752 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:55,960 maybe you fall into a pattern of sin, hear me. 753 00:53:56,240 --> 00:54:02,480 God is not finished with you. He's not finished with you. 754 00:54:05,160 --> 00:54:11,920 Despite your past sin, God provides a new dawn. 755 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:14,440 Let's pray.